When loading and unloading formed or flat parts into and out of dies, or other tooling, a straight vertical lift motion is often required. Heretofore in the use of reciprocal work piece gripping, lifting and transport assemblies various efforts have been made to provide for a substantially vertical lifting movement of the gripping mechanism with respect to work piece for lifting the formed work piece with respect to the dies and sequentially retracting the formed work piece. Devices of this type heretofore have been relatively heavy and complicated structure wise for achieving some form of work piece lifting having a vertical component which is usually not directly vertical for raising the formed work piece and removing it from the work area.